


Illuminated

by lapish



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Headcanon, Homeworld Fic, Military Academy, backstory fic, basically this is the cliche shoujo fic with lots of happenstance pining no one asked for, depending on how you look at it this fic will not have a happy ending, excuse this absolute self-indulgent garbage train, in which im gay for rose jasper is gay for rose and basically everyone is gay for rose, its loaded with headcanons, jasper is a whiny trashbaby but shes cute to start out with tbh, semi-hiatus, ummm idk how to tag tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4048777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lapish/pseuds/lapish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jasper stared up into Rose’s eyes, disbelieving, before breaking out into a grin so wide it hurt.</p><p>“You’re…” She paused, her breathing heavy, to search for the right word, but all she could come up with was, “...<em>Wonderful</em>.”<br/>---<br/>in which jasper falls for the enchanting spell that is rose quartz, they have the times of their lives, but all good things must come to an end.<br/>---<br/>UPDATE: i know what i said. sorry. but ive lost inspiration for this in light of recent episodes so im taking a break. ill come back eventually, probably.<br/>UPDATE X2: yeahhhh its never gonna happen sorry. canon fucked my inspiration.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> okay first fic, i wont bore you with all the personal deets up front but heres a few of my headcanons that may or may not be obvious that ended up getting hugely shoved into this fic and also are important to the narrative so just a moment of your time please
> 
> 1: my headcanon homeworld is that its basically one huge capital city on the planet, but theres also a lot of it thats reserved for academies for training newly made gems. after being made in the kindergartens theyre transported back to the homeworld to be sorted and assigned to different fields, from there being sent to different academies. theres a wide variety, like technological-based, which is probs where peri would have been sent, and militaristic/fighting/strategy stuff based, which, in this fic, is where rose, jasper, sapphire, and ruby were sent. there could be more but i havent thought that far through yet. 
> 
> 2: this ignores the "rose is really a diamond" theory but goes with the "pearls are widely used as servants/whatever" theory
> 
> 3: peri is a huge control freak ok and this translates a lot into keeping her ship clean aF also i just think germaphobic peri is cute ok ok ok
> 
> k thats it i think I HOPE PEOPLE LIKE THIS???? updates roughly once a week probably from here on out

“I just wish they’d supply more cleaners. Every time I turn around, there’s another layer of dust on the floor, or the control panel, and I just can’t take it anymore,” Peridot huffed tiredly. “I mean, you’d think something so microscopically insignificant wouldn’t be a huge burden to get rid of, but no matter how much I sterilize this ship, they just keep coming back.” She sighed and crossed one leg over the other, swiveling in her pilot’s chair. “It’s a nuisance.”  
  
Jasper chuckled at her subordinate’s obsessiveness. “Whatever, it’s just dust,” she dismissed, leaning back in her seat.

Peridot scoffed, disbelieving. “‘ _Just dust_ ’? It’s like I’m fighting a war here, Jasper. A trillion times worse than that fiasco with Earth. It's downright unsanitary.” Jasper shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the war, but Peridot continued on, not yet noticing her colleague’s unease. “If only the bosses would issue me that new decontaminator I put in for _months_ ago. Why do they take so long to- Jasper?” Peridot sat up, finally noticing Jasper’s distracted look. “Are you alright?”

Jasper realized she’d been starting to tune Peridot out and quickly shook her head. “Nothing-” she faltered, “I mean, yes. Yeah, I’m fine. Go on.” Peridot folded her arms over her chest and stared at her company exasperatedly.

“Really?” she probed.

Jasper groaned. “Yes, _really_.”

Peridot continued to stare.

Jasper waited, but honestly was beginning to crumble under Peridot’s signature unimpressed gaze. Say what one may about the controlling gem across from her, but Peridot had it in her sometimes to make even Jasper fear her wrath. Plus, Peridot was far more patient than Jasper, and it only took a minute more of that steely gaze to make her sigh in defeat.

“Fine, _fine_ , you win. Just for the record, I’m doing this because I want to. Not because you told me to.” Peridot only rolled her eyes at that, and Jasper paused. She really didn’t want to do this. She hated talking about it. “Whatever,” she muttered to herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“It was such a long time ago. And _so_ insignificant. I don't even know why I still let it get to me.” She swiped a hand over her face. “An utter waste of my time.” _The best time of my life_. “Worthless.” _Priceless_. She sighed again.

 _Such a small affair_. Hardly worth the fuss she was making over it. “About,” she thought a moment, “Five-thousand years ago.” Another pause. “Give or take some.” She took a shaky breath that she hid with a cough.

“It was my second-to-last year in my combat training academy…”

 

\---

 

A gruff yell pierced the sky; great amounts of dust and dirt went up in clouds.

A bitter laugh resonated through the battle arena, stunning a few of the bystanders in the stands. “You’re gonna regret that one, sweetheart.” A menacing, sneering gem emerged from the debris as it settled. She towered over her opponent, an agile but small Emerald, gaped at her approaching form.

Jasper stalked towards the weaker gem. Her intimidating form typically made lesser gems tremble-a fact she took pride in-and this time was no exception. As she neared the Emerald gem, the latter turned to try and gain some distance back, but by that point it was too late. Jasper seized her opponent, spun to gain velocity, and vaulted the other gem as hard as she could in the first direction that suited her. That direction happened to be straight into the Academy’s technology wing.

The Emerald sailed straight through the wall, and a large crash could be heard from outside the wing. The field overseers frowned in disapproval as infirmary workers rushed to the scene, while her superiors and a few visiting scouts nodded amongst themselves in satisfaction. Jasper felt pride swell up in her chest. She raised her chin up triumphantly. _Yes. I definitely won that one_. She giggled to herself and made her way off of the battlefield. As she did so, she passed by some onlookers: a Topaz, Alexandrite, and Turquoise, by the looks of it.

“She’s unstable. A total defect,” jeered the Topaz.

The Turquoise nodded in agreement. “Of course. That kind of raw strength isn’t natural,” she commented. “A mistake if there ever was one.”

The Alexandrite was more bashful than her companions in her gossip, but still spoke up. “Well… she doesn’t do well in teams, I’ve heard,” she murmured. The Turquoise nodded again.

“See? Total reject. What kind of a gem can’t handle a little bit of groupwork? Last week, I heard she…” Jasper had heard enough. She still wasn’t far enough away to be out of earshot, but she made herself tune the rest out.

 _Strength is not a weakness. It’s not_. She repeated this mantra in her head all the way back to the locker room. _It’s not. It’s not. It’s not. You are_ not _a defect. You are normal. You are_ better _than normal, you are a_ winner _._ She kept telling herself this as she changed out of her battle gear, but no matter how many times she went through this routine, it never really helped anything. Even if the gossip was coming from an _actual_ wimpy defect, when people brought up her _perfectly natural strength_ , which, admittedly was a little bit off-recipe, it always got to her. Always.

Her locker slammed with a loud _clang!_ and she went back out to the battlefield area, planning on going straight back to her dorm. However, something made her stop and stay, just a minute, to watch the intense battle happening out on the field.

A Citrine was in the process of hurling throwing star after throwing star at her opponent, though none of them were landing. The other gem on the field was dodging them as if it were nothing, despite her larger frame. Jasper couldn’t get a clear look at her gem, but judging from the hair and uniform alone, it was likely an Opal, or some strand of Tourmaline. Maybe even Morganite.

The truly amazing thing about this gem, though, was what came next. Instead of continuing to simply steer clear of the stars, or switching tactics to try to land her own hits, the gem summoned up a shield.

Everything that came after could be summed up as the most fascinating, breathtaking, _beautiful_ sight Jasper had ever seen.

The gem’s shield itself was something to be admired. Jasper had never bothered much with weapons, her helmet being the only consistent thing she used her gem for in battle. She much preferred using her own physical strength, rather than rely on the abilities of an object. But this, _this_ was something else.

It was a twisting, swirling, spiraling thing. It encompassed the pink gem in a fully-covering bubble, allowing the gem to levitate within it and advance slowly on her adversary. It was adorned with rose motifs, and matched the gem’s hair in color. _Yes_ , thought Jasper, _almost certainly Morganite_. The gem’s expression was hidden by the shield, but Jasper couldn’t imagine her being anything but calm and collected as the Citrine’s star throwing became erratic, bouncing off the shield at all angles, none of them passing through.

At once, the rose gem was upon the Citrine. Jasper could only gawk at the gem in awe, though she briefly registered the few onlookers around her doing the same.

The Citrine was obviously panicking, her moves becoming uncoordinated and sloppy, her throwing stars completely missing now despite her target being so close. The pink gem paused in her advance, only for a moment, before her shield had completely dissolved and a replacement had been made. This time, her shield encircled the Citrine.

Jasper couldn’t tear her eyes away from the scene. This gem was unbelievably strong; she immobilized her opponent in less than a minute and a half, without ever once making an offensive move. The match was called in full favor of the pink gem.

Jasper had never seen anything like it before. Sure, she was almost one-hundred percent an offensive fighter, but so was almost every gem she had met before. Even the ones who weren't aggressive in nature-even _they_ had to throw a kick, punch, or slash _somewhere_. This gem didn't. It was utterly remarkable.

Jasper’s attention snapped back towards the scene just as the rose gem was leaving the arena. Eyes on the larger gem, Jasper sprang into action. She _had_ to fight this one. She'd never wanted anything, needed anything, _knew_ anything more than this her whole life. After witnessing a unique spectacle like that... Jasper just _had_ to.

"Hey!" Jasper called, sprinting towards the retreating figure. She barely heard as the other spectators began whispering about " _What on Homeworld could she be doing_?” Whatever annoyance she felt, though, it dissipated as soon as the rose gem stopped and turned back towards her.

Jasper's step faltered; she had _not_ expected _that_.

Time seemed to slow. The gem-her coiled locks swirled out of the way in such a fluid motion that one could have mistaken her hair for water. Even the small movement of turning was executed with such authority and grace that Jasper felt her mouth go dry. The gown she’d worn into battle, whiter than ivory, _fluttered_ , actually fluttered, the layers of it moving independently and yet all as one.

And still none of it could have prepared Jasper for the sensation of locking eyes with her.

Endlessly deep, eternally glimmering, and filled with such a sure compassion that Jasper, for a moment, wanted nothing more than to curl up next to this gem and divulge her deepest fears. While _that_ urge left her quickly, the unfamiliar yet natural attraction did not.

As the rose gem began walking toward her, Jasper ransacked her brain for words, but nothing seemed to come up; she couldn’t make sense of her own thoughts.

“Hello?” And that voice. Confident, clear, and with enough surprise infused in it to remind Jasper that this gem was waiting for an explanation. Right.

“I…” Jasper tried, but her mouth was still mysteriously dry. She swallowed, and tried again. “I… that is, I wanted to-” she cleared her throat to get rid of the ridiculously demure inflection that had come over it. “I wanted to ask; would you be interested in sparring sometime?” Jasper wanted immediately to crawl in a hole and stay there. What was she _thinking_? How could this perfect gem _ever_ consider sparring with the academy’s most resented fighter? She could feel her face heat up into a sea of flame, realizing how awful an idea this had been, but forced herself to meet eyes again with the rose gem. The last thing she wanted was to look any weaker, and, seeing as she’d already made a fool out of herself, she was dangerously close to being irreversibly mortified.

“Oh?” The pink gem’s mouth was set in a small “o,” as if genuinely surprised by the request. Please. If this was the first time anyone had asked to fight the beauty in front of her, then Jasper had clearly thought too highly of her colleagues. Clearly, they were all imbeciles if no one had ever asked the absolute beauty in front of her to spar like real gems. Nevertheless, the grandiose gem in front of her beamed, seemingly delighted. “ _Certainly_ , dear.” she said delicately, and Jasper may as well have melted. The gem’s voice was smoother than any Opal that Jasper had ever heard, and had a sweet allure to it that settled pleasantly in Jasper’s bones.

It took a second for Jasper to process what the gem had said, but when she did, she was quick to regain her composure. “Meet me in the fields south of campus,” She thought for a moment, adding, “tonight. Midnight.” The gruffness of her tone hid her elation at this turn of events, at least she hoped. The pink gem in front of her nodded, looking pleased as she moved to turn away, only to falter and face Jasper again.

“How rude of me,” she began, face bashful but tone purposeful and no less hypnotizing, “I’ve neglected to introduce myself.” It was then that Jasper realized that she didn’t even know the gem’s _name_ , nor she her’s, probably. “My name is Rose Quartz.” If Jasper had been capable of moving at all at that point, her jaw would have dropped. Luckily, she kept it together, but the fact that this beauty, this display of absolute perfection was a variety of Quartz? A knockoff of one of the most lowly and common of gems? It stunned her, yet, for some reason, she still found herself answering back.

“I-I’m Jasper.”

And if Jasper stared after Rose as she finally turned and walked away until she was shooed off the field, well. That was her business.

 

\---

 

“Are you ready?” came Rose’s soft dulcet voice across the field. It was nighttime, and three of the Homeworld’s moons shone brightly in the sky. If Rose looked magnificent and elegant in the daylight, she looked even more so after dark. The rose gem was all flowing curls of cerise and fluttering lace. The grass wavered all around Jasper, as if goading her on. It did nothing to ease her nerves.

She swallowed thickly, “Yeah.” _As I’ll ever be_. She stared for a moment, merely taking in Rose’s statuesque figure once more, before bracing her feet apart, taking a battle-ready pose. Jasper summoned up her helmet, took a few steadying breaths, and lunged.

The next few minutes were a blur for her. At every opening she spotted, she swung her fist in with as much force as she could muster. Every time, however, Rose simply summoned up another shield to defend herself. It was a rapid dance of Jasper’s attempted hits followed by Rose’s defense and dodges.

Eventually, Jasper began to think that Rose was toying with her. Jasper was getting very tired of putting her all into it and getting nowhere. Her breathing was becoming labored, and her punches were slowing slightly. Just as she was about to try a different approach by using the new tuck and roll move she’d perfected, Rose’s shield suddenly expanded. It happened so fast, at first Jasper thought that here had been an explosion, but the thought was literally and figuratively blown away when she was hit with the full force of the shield.

It blasted her a good distance away, and she landed with a groan among some rocks. It was a hard enough impact that Jasper had to struggle to get back up, and when she finally managed it, Rose Quartz was already standing in front of her.

Jasper stared up into Rose’s eyes, disbelieving, before breaking out into a grin so wide it hurt.

“You’re…” She paused, her breathing heavy, to search for the right word, but all she could come up with was, “... _Wonderful._ ”

 

\---

 

It was three days before Jasper saw the other gem again. It was in the courtyard, and Jasper had just come out of her last militaristic strategy class of the day. She had planned to head straight for her own room, making a mental list of all the take-away assignments and scenarios she would inevitably have to do that evening along the way, when she stopped dead in her tracks. A puny Sapphire that had been walking behind her ran straight into the back of her legs, squealing out an indignant huff, but thought twice about causing a scene over it when she was silenced by Jasper’s lethal glare. “ _Runt_.” she ground out between her clenched teeth, effectively shutting down all possibilities of difficulties from the blue gem.

After the Sapphire hurried off as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, Jasper let out a sigh and turned her head back towards where Rose Quartz had been, but she was gone. She’d been standing out in front of the gate to the academic buildings, just before the series of hedges and fountains that aligned the pathways to the other parts of campus. She had been right there, and now she was just nowhere in sight. Jasper looked all around for a glimpse of pink curls or a flowing white gown, but saw nothing.

When she finally made it back to her dorm, she settled down to her studies and tried not to think of how disappointing that outcome was.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH so there it is! i hope u people enjoyed chapter one, but beware: i wrote the first 2000ish words back in like, march and only really just skimmed it when i polished it up, but i trust it to be,,,, okay, at least haha. thanks to my beta who beta'd the first roughly 2000 words, paintedpetrichor on tumblr and FFn!! go check them out they is a sweetie. title was inspired by the Hurts song, Illuminated!!
> 
> the rest of it probably wont be beta'd, and the last stretch isnt beta'd, so while i do what i can at the end of the day im a trash baby. so keep that in mind. um. YEAH idk. i can see this being arrrouuunnnddd,,,, four or five chapters long. mayyybe six. i may write a spinoff/sequel with ruby and sapph after im done if people like this and i feel like it. hm.
> 
> also if anyone knows how to fix the formatting to make the spaces between paragraphs not be SO huge, please tell me im a super n00b and need all the help i can get. THANKS!!!  
> upd8: i got it bbs ;)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jasper needs to gain some chill and find a constructive outlet for her emotional trashbaby issues, ruby and sapphire do perfect, and rose is. well. rose is rose. also theyre all potty mouths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I JUST GOT HIRED FOR MY FIRST JOB!! so i wrote this in like, an hour while i screamed and stuff, haha! check the end notes for a chuckle tbh haha

As that next week wore on, the instances of Jasper catching sight of Rose Quartz multiplied. No matter how many times she _swore_ she saw her, though, Jasper never got an opportunity to actually talk to her. Rose Quartz would always mysteriously disappear at the last second, leaving behind an increasingly hopeless Jasper. _Is she avoiding me?_ She couldn’t help but think, miserable at both the fact that it was a very likely possibility and that she was feeling upset about the whole thing in the first place. Taking risks outside of battle wasn’t something Jasper normally did. This shouldn’t have been an exception, especially when it was driven by feelings she didn’t understand.

She didn’t know _why_ she felt so drawn to Rose. Sure, she was a beautiful example of how the empire could turn even the most common and lackluster of gems into greatness, and she was kinder than any gem Jasper had had the fortune of encountering. She was an amazing fighter, too, unique in her strategy and unlike anything Jasper had ever seen before. Still, that shouldn’t have meant the world, a thousand worlds, to Jasper… _But it does_.

Jasper didn’t know what to do about it. On the one hand, she spent most of her time alone anyway, so her solitude was nothing new. On the other hand, she couldn’t stop thinking about seeing Rose Quartz again, so the quiet only served to amplify her thoughts and make them louder. And all her thoughts were of Rose.

It was about at this point in time that she realized she knew practically nothing about Rose, aside from the fact that she could hand it to her anytime she felt like it, and was larger than life in pretty much all aspects. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she grew, and the more frustrated she grew, the more depressed she felt.

“Am I really so lonely that I’m getting hung up on the first person not to flat-out reject me?” she asked herself one day while she was back in the locker room after running drills by herself. She groaned and rested her head against the cool metal of her locker when she realized that, yes, that was probably what had happened. “What do I even need the company for? It’s not like I even know her,” she wondered aloud. _I’m better than this stupid run-around, anyway_. She sighed again, gathering up the combat manuals she planned to reference on a thesis paper later to take back to her room.

As she turned around to leave the locker room, though, she realized that she wasn’t alone at all. When asked later about it, she’d say that she absolutely did not cry out any noise of shock, and she definitely didn’t drop her manuals in a puddle of very questionable fluids, but that’s exactly what happened. She took in a low gasp, brain on autopilot and taking a battle-stance, her books dropping from her grip to the less-than-sanitary floor. When her mind caught up with the rest of her, though, and she realized it was just some runt, probably just coming in from the arena, she relaxed a little bit. When she realized that she was a Sapphire, and not only that but the same Sapphire that had run into her a few days ago, she tensed up all over again. Her frustration and about a week’s worth of pent-up social aggression poured out of her.

“You!” She shouted advancing quickly on the other gem, effectively cornering them against a far wall. “What do you think you’re doing?” she growled, getting very much into the Sapphire’s space.

The Sapphire, however, seemed to be less timid than she was a few days ago. “Ugh! You don’t own the locker room, Jasper!” She yelled, looking like she very much wanted to push Jasper out of her way but thinking better of it. “It’s none of your business what I’m doing in here anyway. I honestly couldn’t care less about your emotional baggage.”

Jasper narrowed her eyes, visibly seething. “You heard that?” The Sapphire’s bangs hid her eyes, but Jasper was sure if she could see them, she’d see fear. “Answer me, runt!” Jasper slammed the palm of her hand against the wall behind the Sapphire’s head. “Did you hear _any_ of that?” Just as Jasper was preparing to get physical for real if the Sapphire in front of her continued to stand there silently, another figure walked into the locker room.

“Sapphire, you in here already? I’m a little late because I went to go get Rooooooo-” A Ruby, somehow smaller than the shrimp in front of Jasper, stood just a few feet away, looking back and forth between Jasper and the Sapphire she had cornered against the wall. “Sapphire!?”

“Ruby.” The Sapphire then slid out from under Jasper’s arm, too quick for Jasper to catch. Not that she wanted to, really. This whole situation was spiraling out of control and she mostly just wanted to get out of there with her dignity at least partially intact. Which was exactly what she planned on doing, too, even going so far as to turning away from the pair to get back to her books that had been marinating in the weird locker room floor juices for a good minute or two. Then the Ruby started in.

“Hey! Musclehead, what the hell do you think you were doing to Sapphire?” she questioned, ignoring, against better judgement, the Sapphire’s attempts to hold her back. “Answer me, you giant-” she cut off with a grunt as Jasper whirled around and sent her flying into another set of lockers with a nasty uppercut.

“You want answers? There’s your answer!” She hollered, hands thrown up in the air. Jasper was fully ready to fight these two ingrates if a fight was what they wanted, but then they ran for each other. Jasper wasn’t stupid, she could tell they were the sort of vile heretics to pull a foul stunt like this the moment the Ruby walked in and just _looked_ at the Sapphire, but she thought that they’d surely have enough guts to fight her fairly. At least without the revolting display that happened to be their fusion.

The Ruby caught the Sapphire as she leapt for her, spinning her around not even twice before the deed was done, and their forms were glowing and merging into a Garnet. Jasper almost gagged. _How much have they_ done _this before to be able to pull it off so quickly?_ she wondered.

Jasper backed off from the display in front of her, grimacing. “Ugh, you two are _disgusting_ ,” she spat, swiping her books up from where they lay forgotten on the floor and moving to storm out of the locker room. Loathe was she to admit it, she’d stand no chance against a fusion-even if the fusion was just a nasty combination of two scrappy half-bakes. It was bad enough they allowed that kind of debauchery on school grounds, restricted as it was, she didn’t care to associate herself with it any further.

As she stomped her way out the door, eyes trained on the ground, however, she ran into yet another person who apparently wasn’t smart enough to just stay out of her way, and dropped her books, _again_. She simply stood there for a moment, lips pursed, eyes still trained on the ground, where her books had found themselves again, a million times more damaged and dirty than they had been not fifteen minutes ago.

And then, letting out a loud and guttural scream, sent her fist flying into the doorframe next to her, bending and breaking it.

“Seriously- I just, _Seriously_!?” She shouted, not caring at the moment how much trouble she was going to be in later for damaging facility property outside of an officiated battle. “I’m so sick and tired of dealing with incompetent gems who can’t even watch where they _fucking_ walk, do you even-” she cut her howling off at seeing just who it was. Of course, with her luck, she should have guessed from the start. “Rose,” it came out as a breathless whisper, “I-I have to go.” She knelt down to pick her books up and brushed past Rose Quartz, who was still standing in the doorway looking between Garnet and Jasper’s retreating back.

 

“Typical.” Jasper sighed once she’d made it out of both eye and earshot, sagging exhausted against the wall at back of the Culture Building, which was, for the record, the opposite direction she’d wanted to go in to get back to her room.

 

\---

 

It hadn’t been a good day the next time she ran into Rose Quartz, either, just a couple days later. Jasper had been stepping out of her dorm, turning back to lean in and secure her lock with her gem-and also cursing the fact that her gem had to be on her nose for this-when she heard her calling out to her from just a little bit down the hall.

“Oh, Jasper? Is that you?” called Rose, still in that same sugar-sweet voice of hers. _Figures, she probably heard from those freaks about how much of a mistake I am and wants to mock me, too_. Jasper sighed and fought the urge to just duck back into her room, but she really did need to get to class. She’d wasted enough time procrastinating leaving her room this morning. She took a deep breath; she’d just have to face her problems head-on, as much as she lamented having to call Rose a _problem_ of all things.

“Hello, Rose Quartz,” she finally managed to get out, sounding stiff as she made her way down the hall towards Rose, trying not to make eye contact as she moved past. Before she could get in the clear, though, Rose reached out and lightly grabbed her arm.

“Jasper, I,” she paused, letting go of Jasper’s arm, letting her own fall back into place against her side as Jasper tried not to think about how much she inexplicably wanted her hand to stay there, “sorry. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“How I was doing?” Jasper asked in confusion. “What? Why would you want to see how I was doing?”

“Well, my friends, Sapphire and Ruby mentioned that you were really upset before I showed up at the locker room the other day.” Rose was the one looking anywhere but Jasper, now, and- _Wow, is she blushing?_

“Seriously?” Jasper could only stare incredulously at Rose Quartz, who was now looking at her again, but _Still blushing, wow._

“Yes, seriously.” Rose actually, for real, honestly giggled. Jasper kept staring. “But. Seriously,” Rose continued in a more somber tone, “are you okay?” Jasper thought for a moment, flattered and bewildered and speechless all in one, before she figured out what this probably was actually about.

“Oh.” She breathed, barely audible. _Her_ friends, _Sapphire and Ruby. Of course._ “Look, I didn’t go in there looking for a fight, and I’m not going to apologize for what I did, either. If they weren’t looking for trouble they shouldn’t have bothered me.” Jasper said, which, yeah, Jasper could see how that might be a bit unfair. _Unfair or not, though, they pushed me, too_. With that, Jasper started down the hall yet again, trying to ignore the strange weight in her chest. She didn’t get very far this time, either, before Rose was calling after her again and _her hands on my shoulders, spinning me around and making me just look at her_ -

“Jasper, Jasper, no.” She shook her head emphatically. “I think we’re still misunderstanding each other. This isn’t about them.” _Oh._

“It’s. It’s not?” Jasper could feel her face heating up. Rose still hadn’t retracted her hands, not even after Jasper had to glance at where they rested on her shoulders just to make sure they were real. _Not that this isn’t nice in the weirdest way, but, why?_

“No, it’s not.” Rose smiled down at Jasper; really, genuinely, happily smiled at her. “It actually has nothing to do with them at all.” Rose then, not for the first time, successfully left Jasper speechless. Rose’s hands left her shoulders and slid up to cup her cheeks. “Listen, I know we both have courses to get to. Will you meet me in the field tonight?” And Jasper could only nod, dumbfounded, and watched as Rose mirrored her with a small nod of her own before she released her face from her gentle grip. And Jasper didn’t stop watching as she made her way down the hall, and she didn’t stop looking after her when she turned the corner and was gone either.

When the buzzer rang throughout the corridor, though, she muttered a curse and began sprinting towards her Technological Advancement class. She was so late, but even as she ran, lungs barely burning from the exertion, she couldn’t help but feel somehow lighter.

  
_As if Rose even needed to ask if I’d be there._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO THIS IS SUPER EARLY yes i know. its also about 600 words shorter than the last chapter, which i wasnt thrilled about, but i really wanted to push it out while i could so i could really take my time with,,,,, what comes next ;) ;) ;) but yeah dont ever expect it to be this fast ever again ahahaha
> 
> anyway this is jasper right after she ran into rose lmao dont ask why i found this image it just fits 2 perf so take it  
> http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/03/75/14/1037108/3/628x471.jpg
> 
> note i didnt really read over this v much too so small grammatical/spelling things are liable to changeeee and also im sleepy so GOODNIGHT <3 ILU


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